The automotive industry is continually researching new ways of improving the combustion process of the internal combustion engine in an effort to improve fuel economy, meet or exceed emission regulatory targets, and to meet or exceed consumer expectations regarding emissions, fuel economy and product differentiation.
Most modem conventional internal combustion engines attempt to operate around stoichiometric conditions. That is to say providing an optimal air/fuel ratio of substantially 14.6 to 1 that results in substantially complete consumption of the fuel and oxygen delivered to the engine. Such operation allows for exhaust gas aftertreatment by 3-way catalysts which clean up any unconsumed fuel (HC) and combustion byproducts such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO). Most modern engines are fuel injected having either throttle body injection (TBI) or multi-port fuel injection (MPFI) wherein each of a plurality of injectors is located proximate an intake port at each cylinder of a multi-cylinder engine. Better air/fuel ratio control is achieved with a MPFI arrangement; however, conditions such as wall wetting and intake runner dynamics limit the precision with which such control is achieved. Fuel delivery precision can be improved by direct in-cylinder injection (DI). So called linear oxygen sensors provide a higher degree of control capability and, when coupled with DI, suggest an attractive system with improved cylinder-to-cylinder air/fuel ratio control capability. However, in-cylinder combustion dynamics then become more important and combustion quality plays an increasingly important role in controlling emissions. As such, engine manufacturers have concentrated on such things as injector spray patterns, intake swirl, and piston geometry to effect improved in-cylinder air/fuel mixing and homogeneity.
While stoichiometric gasoline four-stroke engine and 3-way catalyst systems have the potential to meet ultra-low emission targets, efficiency of such systems lags behind so-called lean-burn systems. Lean-burn systems also show promise in meeting emission targets for NOx through combustion controls, including high exhaust gas dilution and emerging NOx aftertreatment technologies. However, lean-burn systems still face other hurdles, for example, combustion quality and combustion stability particularly at part load operating points and high exhaust gas dilution.
Lean-bum engines, at a most basic level, include all internal combustion engines operated with air in excess of that required for the combustion of the fuel charge provided. A variety of fueling and ignition methodologies differentiate lean-bum topologies. Spark ignited systems (SI) initiate combustion by providing an electrical discharge in the combustion chamber. Compression ignition systems (CI) initiate combustion with combustion chamber conditions including combinations of air/fuel ratio, temperature and pressure among others. Fueling methods may include TBI, MPFI and DI. Homogeneous charge systems are characterized by very consistent and well vaporized fuel distribution within the air/fuel mixture as may be achieved by MPFI or direct injection early in the intake cycle. Stratified charge systems are characterized by less well vaporized and distributed fuel within the air/fuel mixture and are typically associated with direct injection of fuel late in the compression cycle.
Known gasoline DI engines may selectively be operated under homogeneous spark ignition or stratified spark ignition modes. A homogeneous spark ignited mode is generally selected for higher load conditions while a stratified spark ignition mode is generally selected for lower load conditions.
Certain DI compression ignition engines utilize a substantially homogeneous mixture of hot air and fuel and establish pressure and temperature conditions during engine compression cycles that cause ignition without the necessity for additional spark energy. This process is sometimes called controlled auto-ignition or homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). Controlled auto-ignition and HCCI may be used interchangeably. Controlled auto-ignition is a predictable process and thus differs from undesirable pre-ignition events sometimes associated with spark-ignition engines. Controlled auto-ignition also differs from well-known compression ignition in diesel engines wherein fuel ignites substantially immediately upon injection into a highly pre-compressed, high temperature charge of air, whereas in the controlled auto-ignition process the hot air and fuel are mixed together prior to combustion during intake events and generally at compression profiles consistent with conventional spark ignited four-stroke engine systems.
Four-stroke internal combustion engines have been proposed which provide for auto-ignition by controlling the motion of the intake and exhaust valves associated with a combustion chamber to ensure that an air/fuel charge is mixed with combusted gases to generate conditions suitable for auto-ignition without the necessity for externally pre-heating intake air or cylinder charge or for high compression profiles. In this regard, certain engines have been proposed having a cam-actuated exhaust valve that is closed significantly later in the four-stroke cycle than is conventional in a spark-ignited four-stroke engine to allow for substantial overlap of the open exhaust valve with an open intake valve whereby previously expelled combusted gases are drawn back into the combustion chamber early during the intake cycle. Certain other engines have been proposed that have an exhaust valve that is closed significantly earlier in the exhaust cycle thereby trapping combusted gases for subsequent mixing with fuel and air during the intake cycle. In both such engines the exhaust and intake valves are opened only once in each four-stroke cycle. Certain other engines have been proposed having the exhaust valve opened twice during each four-stroke cycle—once to expel combusted gases from the combustion chamber into the exhaust passage during the exhaust cycle and once to draw back combusted gases from the exhaust passage into the combustion chamber late during the intake cycle. These engines variously utilize throttle body, port or direct combustion chamber fuel injection.
However advantageous such lean-bum engine systems appear to be, certain shortfalls with respect to combustion quality and combustion stability, particularly at part load operating points and high exhaust gas dilution, continue to exist. Such shortfalls lead to undesirable compromises including limitations on how much a fuel charge can effectively be reduced during part load operating points while still maintaining acceptable combustion quality and stability characteristics. As a further complicating factor, variations in commercially available fuels can also have pronounced effects upon combustion stability, particularly at low load operating regions.